Phantoms

“Brave words for someone that can’t kill me.” Photine managed another array of weapons to surround Yumi. Escape routes closed tighter than before. She couldn’t let a repeat of before happen.

The scene looked familiar to Yumi, but she didn’t know the reason. She remembered the weapons that Photine used against her, however the exact setup shouldn’t have been so similar to something. Yumi didn’t waste much time on it. She summoned up her barrier to protect her. ‘Last time her sword needed a lot of force to break through… I’ll take advantage of that…’ Ready, she shifted her stance a little to act.

A narrowed look came from Photine’s eyes. “Just because you’re using a different color for your barrier the results will still be the same.” Moving slowly, the swords all closed in piercing Yumi’s barrier as though it didn’t exist.

Yumi flinched, reacting to her barrier. It made her eyes widened in surprise. “How? This didn’t happen before!”

“Huh?” Photine suddenly felt confused. Signs already made her question what happened to Masa. Each time she spoke only made it worse. ‘She’s acting like our fight never happened. What’s going on?’

‘Is this like what happened before? My powers aren’t working correctly anymore?’ Unfortunately, her memories tied to those moments carried unpleasant ones as well. Images of her nightmares stalked her shadows. She knew nothing was behind her, but it didn’t stop a chill from going up her spine. A cold sweat broke out over her body. It remembered everything too well. Yumi shook her head trying to clear her mind. ‘I’ve got to focus. It’s behind me. Just a nightmare…’

“Tricks don’t seem like your style, Masa. What’s your game?”

“Masa?” The voice gave her something to focus on, something not connected to her delusions. “Who’s Masa?”

New questions surfaced for Photine. She felt like their fight disappeared further from her grasp. ‘Is this the other personality that she spoke about? I went with it since it made matters simpler at the time, but if it is true there’s another personality inside. What happened to cause this change? She reminds me of how she was when I first fought her…’ Photine needed new answers. Her opponent kept changing. She wished she actually understood her. It was the only way to win. “Are you claiming not to be Masa?”

“I don’t know a Masa. My name is Yumi, not Masa.”

“Different names?” It made her eyes narrow. ‘She’s not lying from the look of it. So the one before was telling the truth? Two completely distinct personalities…’ The thought brought a bit of a smirk to her face. The situation changed back to her favor. “So you’re the original? Whichever, I have you surrounded. There’s nothing you can do to resist me! You're mine now!”

Chapter 160 – Phantoms

In spite of her injuries, Photine bore out confidence in her words. She could still stand and move, though slowly. However, she didn’t need to do anything to capture Yumi. She knew the situation better after Yumi revealed her identity. Everything was in her hands.

She tightened the position of the weapons on Yumi. Photine wanted Yumi to pay for everything she did, but with her emotions back in check, she knew what needed to happen. The images of infirmary still haunted her and challenged her, however she resisted. ‘Death is too easy,’ she agreed.

Yumi still felt confused with the question. ‘Why’d she think I was called Masa? Is it because of the other person? She was trying to kill her…’ Pieces of her jumbled memories came back to her. Everything when she woke was hazy. She only understood one thing. The feeling of wanting to kill alerted her. It was a terrible dark feeling she never felt before, but somehow understood. She recognized it.

Photine tried to conclude their fight, but Yumi wasn’t willing to accept. ‘My barrier doesn’t work… I need something else…’ She moved her hand to act. A tinge of pain bolted down her arm. Previously sustained injuries made her realize more happened while she was unconscious. She pushed through the faint stings to focus on her goal. ‘I just need to crush them, like before. Then I can counter her…’

Her mind started planning ahead of what her moves would be. She remembered the bits from her first fight with Photine. The tactics and abilities the woman wielded worked into her strategy. Yumi knew she needed to keep in mind the dangerous potential of their power. It slowed her down, but did not stop her from making calculations.

However, she got ahead of herself.

It wasn’t doing anything. ‘What?!’ She squeezed her hand thinking the physical action would make a difference. Nothing happened regardless of her effort. Her eyes widened again realizing the meaning. ‘I can’t crush them. My power is gone.’

Yumi looked over at Photine, while trying to hide her reactions. The awkward stifled look in her eyes failed to protect her. She caught sight of a knowing smirk from the woman. ‘She did something. Is that what she was referring to before? How did she seal my power?’ Her hand lowered to her side.

“Reconciled yourself finally?” Photine took a couple steps forward. Blood dripped from her ignored wounds. Nearby her feet, the ground suddenly cratered and then swelled. Out of the earth, a wood block appeared with two metal poles embedded at the top. Their shape indicated they supported or held something, but nothing was present. “This will end your troublesome ways for good.”

Light sprung from the air above the block. Chunks disappeared from the arid rock gathering into the light. It slowly expanded.

Yumi didn’t know what Photine had planned. She frantically looked around her for ideas. ‘She sealed my powers…but when? I could use my barrier before…was it after that? I didn’t notice a difference…’ Her barrier gave her an idea. Green squares of her barrier materialized around her in a very loose pattern. ‘I still have them…so she only sealed my crushing power?’

Her mind worked on the problem quickly. She didn’t have much time. After the confirmation of her barrier, she made them disappear. Her eyes glanced at the weapons that still held her under guard. ‘But my barrier doesn’t work on them… So the swords made my barrier useless and my crush is gone too… Is everything else gone?’

Trial and error ended up being her only options. She gained nothing more from Photine. It made sense to Yumi that her opponent wouldn’t give away important details about what countermeasures she made. Making it as discreet as possible, Yumi worked through her known abilities. ‘I can fly, or at least hover still and make my barrier, but it has no use against her… My crush and telekinesis is gone completely… The only one I don’t know is…’ Yumi glanced back up at Photine and her work. It seemed like she was almost finished with whatever she had planned.

The shortness on her time forced her to become reckless. ‘I don’t know if this’ll work, but it draws too much attention… I just have to go with it…’ Yumi tightened her hands to prepare for the next part. She knew pain was likely the next thing she would feel, but she didn’t let it stall her. Her teeth bit down a little on her lip as she prayed.

A swift motion through the air ignited several of the swords. Shards of metal rained down, but not without attracting Photine’s attention. Her eyes focused on her work, not expecting any more fight from Yumi. However, she was missing from the cage her swords constructed. The scene looked all too familiar. ‘She figured it out as well…damn, she’s smarter than I thought… Worse, I still don’t know what ability they’re using, so I can’t neutralize it…’

Reacting to the defensive need, the remaining swords disappeared and surfaced around Photine. Her eyes scanned the area in search of Yumi. ‘Damnit…where’d she go?’ A bright light signaled Photine too late. When she turned her gaze up an explosion already went off. Something hit her swords. It blocked the attack, but pelted her with chunks of blades. Jagged edges sliced across her face before she could remove them.

Blood dripped down her cheeks. Painted in crimson, Photine stared through the cloud undeterred. She sent new weapons up into the air checking for Yumi. They seemed to find nothing and the night didn’t help her.

Yumi darted around in front of Photine. She wanted something more direct and stunning. The close range would hopefully get through her weapons’ defense. A motion from her hand drew up green particles, but Yumi suddenly froze. Her eyes widened in shock that ran down her body to start shaking her legs.

The blood on Photine’s face transformed her appearance into Yori. He had an empty stare at her. Blood soaked his skin turning his eyes almost all white. A wicked grin grew to produce the white fangs of a beast. He looked ready to cut her down.

Weights fell down on her arms holding her from moving. Pressure buckled her knees with the shaking only made it worse. She wanted to turn away. Invisible hands seemed to hold her head from moving. Yumi wanted to scream, but her mouth clamped shut. ‘…Yori! No! It’s just delusions! They’re not real!’

A force slammed into her body knocking her off her feet. Yumi slid over the cracked earth until her head slammed against a stone column. Pain jumped from her head down to her arm. ‘What just happened?’ Blinking through a stabbing pain in her arm, Yumi glanced down at the wound. Blood poured out of her forearm with a wide gash cutting into her flesh. ‘Blood…so much…from where? I’m not falling back in again?’

Yumi looked around only to see the empty wasteland of Photine’s Field. In the distance, Photine stood as she had before. It returned to normal, not a nightmare anymore. ‘It was her…’ Yumi pulled herself up feeling the strength returning her body. She could deal with reality.

Swords appeared all around Yumi once more. They forcefully put themselves in her path destroying the column of rocks behind her. It made her glance back for a moment. A brief haunting image stirred inside her, remnants of her unease. ‘…focus…she’s planning something…trying to keep me from moving…’

Moving her hand up, Yumi stared down in thought. She needed something to turn the fight. The previous tactics weren’t enough against Photine. ‘I need to throw her off…something she wouldn’t expect…’ A thought came to her. She lifted her head up to glance around at the weapons. ‘I wonder…she does have great faith in them…it might work…if I can get the timing…’

Wind blasted out from Yumi. A dust cloud kicked up, partially obscuring her from view. Making things worse, a bright green light expanded from Yumi shattering all of the weapons. Yumi charged through the cloud that she created trailing streams off her ragged clothes.

It surprised Photine for only a moment as she experienced this before. She sent in more weapons to pin Yumi down. However, Yumi raised up her hand with a rectangular section of her barrier expanding from her palm. Photine thinned her eyes at the strange behavior. “Have you forgotten it doesn’t work?”

Yumi gave a bit of a smirk through the barrier at Photine. She otherwise ignored her. The barrier came between her and the sword. It looked a little more opaque than normal, but hovered with the movement of her hand. Particles trailed from the edges. Yumi narrowed her eyes to keep her focus. One of the numerous swords flew directly in front of her.

The moment froze for a second as it looked like the sword would stab Yumi ending the fight. However, Photine’s sword shattered when it hit Yumi’s barrier. Pieces bounced off her barrier out of Yumi’s way.

“Impossible!” Photine shouted in disbelief.

Yumi charged through Photine’s broken offense. The surprised look on her face crippled her reaction leaving the rest of the swords to pass harmlessly by Yumi.

As she closed with Photine, the barrier disappeared. Her hands came up slicing through the air creating arcs of energy. They plowed through Photine casting her to the ground. Blood from her past wounds sprayed the earth.

Yumi panted standing over top of Photine. The last series of moves exhausted her. Still catching her breath, Yumi spoke down to Photine. “Your swords no longer have an effect on my barrier. And with my remaining abilities...” Yumi’s voice trailed off. Her eyes began to shake suddenly.

A hand clutched her head as the images came back to her. “…blood…so much…blood…” Blood surrounded everything. Yumi choked on the air as she saw corpses around Photine. “…no…” Photine disappeared from the mountain of corpses. She stepped away not wanting to be anywhere near it. However, a few steps was all her feet allowed her. “…not again…”

The corpses suddenly jerked. A body carelessly fell to the side rolling down the mound. Deep inside a wave moved through the sea of crimson flesh. It slowly rose up as though something underneath pushed up wanting to be free.

Yumi shook her head slowly. She couldn’t escape them. “…n-n-no…not real…” A blood soaked hand broke through a pile of bodies. It savagely clung to the flesh. The hand scraped and pulled ripping flesh free trying to get a hold. “…not again…I can’t…let it…” Another hand breached the surface of ragged meat. It had a stronger hold.

It could come out.

Yumi screamed a bloody cry rattling down to the bone. It made her pant even heavier afterward, but she staggered forward. She was free. She could move. Her eyes fixed ahead at the threat. “…I have to…” The top of a head grew out of the dead mountain. “…end the delusion…before it consumes me…”

An awkward smile grew across Yumi’s face. A smile built from self-assurance. It grew to split her face almost. “I must destroy it before it destroys me… It’ll keep coming back…” Yumi gave a rusty nod to herself. “I’ll end the delusions with my hand… Then it’ll be over!”

Yumi raised her hand up. Green energy swirled above her quickly growing in size. No longer her usual arc, a sphere of tightly packed energy shined across the camp. The force of its presence started to blow out winds from Yumi tossing lighter debris away. “I can end it!” she laughed. “I’ll be at peace again!” Yumi threw her hand down at an immobile Photine, no longer seeing her.

The light engulfed the entire area as it quickly expanded. Photine disappeared from sight. A shadow darted through everything and suddenly the light faded away. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” snapped Chiharu as she slapped Yumi.